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N0KFQ > TODAY 08.02.12 18:42l 43 Lines 1863 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 17423_KB0WSA
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Feb 8
Path: IZ3LSV<IW0QNL<IK6ZDE<VE2PKT<N9PMO<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120208/1631Z 17423@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.48
Feb 8, 1943:
Britain's Indian Brigade begins guerrilla operations in Burma
Under the command of Major General Orde Wingate, the 77th Indian
Brigade, also called the Chindits, launch guerrilla raids behind
Japanese lines in Burma.
Wingate was an eccentric British officer famous both for quoting
the Bible and advocating irregular warfare tactics. His career as
a guerrilla fighter began when he organized Jewish underground
patrols to beat back Arab raids in British-controlled Palestine
in the 1930s. In 1941, Wingate led a mixed Ethiopian and Sudanese
force in retaking Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, from the
Italians, who had invaded in 1935.
Upon the beginning of Japan's China-Burma campaign, Wingate was
sent to India to use his experience as a guerrilla fighter to
train and organize the Chindits--a brigade of specially trained
Gurkha (Nepalese), Burmese, and British troops. The Chindits were
composed of two units of Long Range Penetration Groups, each made
up of men and mules. Wingate and his brigade entered
Japanese-controlled Burma from the west, crossed the Chindwin
River, and launched their campaigns: penetrating Japanese-held
territory, attacking supply lines, and cutting communications.
Once in the field, the Chindits were cut off from other units and
could be supplied only by airdrops.
One of the Chindits most effective attacks was against the
Mandalay-Myitkina railway, when they blew up three bridges while
also beating back Japanese troops determined to stop the
demolitions. The Chindits continued to wreak havoc--at one point
killing 100 Japanese soldiers while suffering only one loss
themselves--until a lack of supplies and troublesome terrain
forced them back to India. They were disbanded in the latter half
of 1944.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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